Increasingly, vehicle manufacturers outfit their vehicles with a wide array of wireless communications capabilities. Vehicle telematics devices installed in modern vehicles can wirelessly send both voice and data communications to a variety of recipients. Recipients can be central facilities that include servers and/or live advisors capable of responding to the telematics unit. Vehicles equipped with telematics units have the ability to gather a diverse array of data about vehicles and send it via the telematics device.
Additionally, vehicle manufacturers are equipping vehicles with more efficient vehicle powerplants, which can operate using alternative fuels. In one example, an alternative fuel vehicle operates using an electric motor supplied with energy from a battery. In another example, the electric motor can be charged with an internal combustion engine. Other configurations of alternative fuel vehicles are possible. And different configurations of alternative fuel vehicles can be optimized for specific conditions.